Incineration type sanitary closets



April 8, 1969 H. M. SUNDBERG 3,436,765

INCINERATION TYPE SANITARY CLOSETS Filed Sept. 19, 198'? Sheet I of 4 INUENTORZ HARDY Ml KAEL SUNDBERG 540W, S by f wu/agw,

April 1969" H. M. SUNDBERG 3,436,765

INGINERATION TYPE SANITARY CLOSETS Filed S ept. 19. 1967 J v f Sheet 2 0:4

.lNVE-NTOR: HARDYMIKAEL. SUNDBERG April 8, 1969 H. M. SUNDBERG 3,436,765

INCINERA'I'ION TYPE SANITARY CLOSETS Filed Sept. 19, 1967 Shet 3 of 4 4s 4 I Zilv FIG. 3

lNVE-NTOR YMI AEL surwBa-Rs April 1969 H. M. SUNDBERG 3,436,765

INCINERATION TYPE SANITARY CLOSE'I'S Filed Sept. 19, 1967 Sheet 4 of 4 7 0L 0 i I b i bfj, 6'9! 5.9.2 5a gil a j b 672 b 682 j -z-"-. 1% 68 M I T 69 5/ i 0 I W4 mvc-urokr HARDY MIKAEL SUN'D BERG mtd 84mm, W F

United States 3,436,765 INCINERATION TYPE SANITARY CLOSEIS Hardy Mikael Sundberg, Bjorkviilan, Bengtfors, Sweden Filed Sept. 19, 1%7, Ser. No. 668,899 Claims priority, application Sweden, Sept. 22, 1966, 12,735/66; Dec. 8, 1966, 16,808/66 Int. Cl. A47k 11/02 US. Cl. 4131 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This invention relates to a sanitary closet having at least one open top receptacle for receiving body waste, and a unit for incinerating the waste substances in the waste receptacle.

The disadvantages inherent in previously known sanitary closets of this type, which generally have an electric incinerator unit, are int. al. the high power consumption, the low capacity and the bothersome odour of escaping gases. The present invention has for its object to overcome these disadvantages and to provide a sanitary closet of the above mentioned type which gives an efiicient distilling and incinerating process, a low power consumption and a rapid cooling of the waste receptacle of the sanitary closet as well as a resulting higher capacity of use thereof.

The sanitary closet according to the present invention eliminates the odour of escaping gases.

The sanitary closet according to the invention is characterised by the fact that the incinerator unit is located in an open bottom dome in the form of an after-burner having an inlet for the supply of air and an outlet for the discharge of escaping gases, and that the dome and the waste receptacle are relatively movable to permit placing the dome in a position covering the waste receptacle.

For better elucidation the invention will be more fully described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a diagrammatic vertical section of an electric sanitary closet;

FIGURE 2 is a diagrammatic horizontal section of the sanitary closet in FIGURE 1 on line IIII in said figure;

FIGURE 3 is a side view, partly in vertical section, of a practical form of the sanitary closet;

FIGURE 4 is a wiring diagram of the electric system in the sanitary closet.

The electric sanitary closet according to the invention, diagrammatically shown in FIGURES l and 2, comprises a toilet stool casing 10 with a seat 11 thereon, to which is connected a hopper 12. A rotary assembly 13 mounted for rotation on a vertical shaft 14 provided within the casing 10, houses two diametrically opposed heat-insulated receptacles 15A and 15B for receiving waste substances, and these two receptacles which may be loose inserts in the rotary assembly 13 can be 'alternately moved by rotation of the assembly 13 beneath the hopper 12 to the position occupied in FIGURE 1 by *atent the waste receptacle 15A. Rotation of the assembly 13 can be performed either by hand or by means of a motor. Stationarily disposed within the toilet stool casing is an open bottom heat-insulated dome 16 which tapers towards its upper end and is so placed that when one waste receptacle is in position beneath the hopper 12 the other waste receptacle is positioned beneath the dome 16, as is the case with the waste receptacle 158 in FIGURE 1, to there serve as a combustion or incineration chamber while the dome functions as an after-burner. The two waste receptacles are thus alternately brought into a Waste-receiving position beneath the hopper 12 and a waste-incinerating position beneath the after-burner 16.

The after-burner 16 is spaced somewhat above the mouth of the subjacent waste receptacle 15B so that a gap 17 is formed between said receptacle and said afterburner. A horizontally oriented perforated disk 18 which is made from ceramic material having through holes or nozzles 19, covers the bottom opening of the afterburner which is formed by a cylindrical portion of the after-burner, and an electric heating coil 20 is disposed beneath said ceramic disk 18. The after-burner conically tapers from its cylindrical mouth portion and merges at the top with a tubular conduit 21 which is connected to a suction fan 22 which is driven by an electric motor and the pressure side of which is connected to a pressure chamber 23. Said chamber in turn is connected with an evacuating conduit 24 for the discharge of the gases escaping from the after-burner at the incineration of the waste matter. Said pressure chamber 23 functions as an equalizing vessel on the pressure side of the fan.

A pipe 26 leads from the upper portion of the pressure chamber 23 through part of the tubular conduit 21 and through the after-burner 16 and the disk 18 to open at the underside thereof. The mouth of the pipe is directed to the waste receptacle 15B beneath the after-burner for supplying air to said receptacle.

Arranged above the disk 18 in the after-burner 16 is a number of igniting means 27, for instance electric filaments, for the ignition of combustible gases rising from the waste receptacle into the after-burner.

The waste matter received in the receptacle 15B when the latter is positioned beneath the hopper 12, is heated by the heating coil 20, resulting first in the incineration of any paper present and then in the evaporation of any liquid matter present and finally in dry distillation and final incineration. Air for the incineration is supplied through the pipe 26, the air being heated in that hot gases escaping through the after-burner 16 and the tubular conduit 21 flow around that section of the pipe 26 which we tends through part of the tubular conduit 21 and through the after-burner 1-6. Combustible gases from the waste substances in the receptacle 15B, which have not been ignited already in the waste receptacle, rise through the holes in the disk 18 and collect in the after-burner 16 where they are ignited by the igniting means 27 for complete after-burning. The remaining non-combustible gases are sucked away from the after-burner 16 through the tubular conduit 21 by the fan 22 and collected in the pressure chamber 23. From this chamber the gases are discharged through the evacuating conduit 24.

The air supplied through the pipe 26- fiows toward and around the hot waste substances in the receptacle 15B thereby removing the superficial ash shielding the Waste substances to the heat radiation from the heating coil 20. Air penetrates the coke formed at the incineration and furthers the incineration by partaking init as primary air, simultaneously as the air produces ventilation in the waste receptacle 15B and after concluded incineration provides a cooling down of said receptacle.

Due to the air supplied to the waste receptacle 15B being preheated, higher temperatures are reached in the waste receptacle and consequently also higher temperatures in the after-burner 16, which contributes to an improved ignition of the combustible gases in the afterburner 16 and thereby to a more efficient incineration in said after-burner.

The practical form, illustrated in FIGURE 3, of the electric sanitary closet described in principle with respect to FIGURES 1 and 2, comprises a toilet stool casing of glass fibre reinforced plastics with a conventional seat 11. The rotary assembly 13 is mounted for rotation within said casing 10 by means of the vertical shaft 14 which in the present instance is a tubular shaft. The rotary assembly 13 includes an outer sheet metal shell 30 having a cover 30' and two inner cylindrical sheet metal jackets one of which is visible at 31, said two lastmentioned sheet metal jackets being arrangemed diametrically opposite one another on either side of the shaft 14 in analogy to what is shown in FIGURE 2. The outer sheet metal shell 30 and the two inner sheet metal jackets 31 define between them a space which is filled with insulating material 32, such as magnesia. The rotary assembly 13 thus includes a pair of upwardly open heatinsulated wells, and in each of said wells there is detachably mounted a receptacle for receiving body waste substances, one of said receptacles being shown at B in FIGURE 3. The Waste receptacle can be loosely supported by means of an outwardly bent upper edge on a shoulder 33 formed by the cover at the upper edge of the inner sheet metal jacket 31.

The rotary assembly 13 is fixedly arranged on the shaft 14 which is rotatably mounted in a lower bearing 34 disposed within the toilet stool casing 10 on the bottom thereof, and in an upper bearing 35 disposed in a box 36 which is stationarily supported within the casing 10 by a supporting structure 37. Non-rotatably mounted on the rotary shaft 14 is a gear 38 which is in mesh with a pinion 39 arranged to be driven by an electric motor 40 including a transmission gear and being supported on a bracket 41 projecting "from the bearing 34. The electric motor 40 thus serves to rotate the assembly 13 upon adjustment of the waste receptacles in said assembly from waste-receiving position to waste-incinerating position and from wasteincinerating position to waste-receiving position, respectively.

The box 36 carries the after-burner 16 which is arranged in the interior of the box 36 and is enclosed by a thick heat insulation 42, for instance of magnesia, disposed in said box. The after-burner 16 which conically tapers towards its upper end merges with a cylindrical socket 43 which opens with its obliquely cut upper end beneath a dome 44 disposed on top of the box 36, said dome being open at both ends and widening from the left end to the right end. The right end of the dome is connected by means of a bathe plate 45 to the suction fan 22 which preferably is a cross flow blower having an elongated cylindrical rotor. Details 43, 44 and 45 thus are equivalents of the tubular conduit 21 shown in FIGURE 1. The pressure side of the fan 22 is connected to the pressure chamber 23 which is supported within the toilet stool casing 10 by the evacuating conduit 24 which is run through the wall of the casing. The pipe 26 extends from the upper portion of the pressure chamber 23 horizontally inwardly over the dome 44 in order then to curve vertically downward and to extend concentrically through the socket 43 and the after-burner 16. The communication of the pipe 26 with the pressure chamber 23 is controlled by means of a damper 46 which normally occupies the open position shown by full lines in FIGURE 3, but is connected to a solenoid 47 to enable pivotment by means of said solenoid to the closed position indicated by dash-and-dot lines, when the solenoid is activated.

The after-burner 16 in this case is of a slightly modified embodiment is respect of the arrangement of the heating elements. The bottom opening of the after-burner is con- 4 nected to a ring 48 which supports the ceramic disk 18 having perforations 19 therein as well as a spider 49 of ceramic material in the form of a spoke wheel, which is disposed beneath the disk 18 and on which rests a perforated disk 50 likewise of ceramic material which has electric heating elements 51 both on the upper side and at the underside thereof. The pipe 26 penetrates the disk 18 and above said disk has outlet openings 52 for supplying secondary air to the after-burner 16. Having passed the disk 18 the pipe 26 continues downwards through a central opening 53 in the spider 49 and the disk 50 to have an end opening 54 directed downwardly towards the waste receptacle positioned beneath the after-burner. Air which is led from the pressure chamber 23 through the pipe 26 to the after-burner 16 and the waste receptacle 15B is thus preheated in the same way as was described in conjunction with FIGURE 1.

As already mentioned, the shaft 14 is tubular, and it can communicate via one or more holes 55 with the interior of the toilet stool casing which in turn communicates with the lavatory through a separate ventilation hole or through a gap at the toilet lid while the upper end of the tubular shaft 14 opens within the interior of the toilet stool casing immediately above the bearing 35. This up per opening is covered by a small cap 56 which furthers air suction from the upper opening of the tubular shaft 14 to the left end of the dome 44 so that the fan 22 can maintain an air stream through the tubular shaft 14 to cool it.

The heating elements 51 have the same function as the elements 20 and 21 in FIGURE 1 and are of such a nature as to give a temperature of 1200-1300" C. in the after-burner. The heating elements may suitably consist of Kanthal wire. The ceramic material which is to withstand this high temperature may be kordierit.

The heating elements 51 like the motor 40, the solenoid 47 and the electric drive motor of the fan 22 are embodied in an electric system which is controlled by a motor-driven sequencer 5'7 and an operating button 58 for said sequencer and which will be described in more detail in conjunction with FIGURE 4.

The electric system shown in FIGURE 4 comprises the push button 58, the sequencer 57 which is designated by a dashed frame, an electric motor 59 comprised in said sequencer, the electric drive motor of the fan 22, which for the sake of simplicity has been given the same reference numerals as the fan, the motor 40 for turning the rotary assembly 13, the solenoid 47 for setting the damper 46, and the heating elements 51. The electric system further comprises a contact 60 which is operable by means of the lid for the seat 11 and which has stationary contacts a and b, a contact 61 operable by the lid for the seat and having a stationary contact a, and a limit contact 62 also having stationary contacts a and b. At closed lid the contacts 60 and 61 in the illustrated positions are engaged with their respective stationary contacts a, and when the rotary assembly 13 is in position of rest with either waste receptacle beneath the hopper 12 and the other receptacle beneath the after-burner 16, the limit contact 62 is actuated by means of a cam or like member on the rotary assembly 13 into engagement with its stationary contact a, while it is engaged with its stationary contact 12 in all other angular positions of said rotary assembly. The sequencer 57 includes four contacts 63, 64, and 66 conventionally operable by a cam or like member driven by the motor 59. Contacts 63 and 64 are makecontacts adapted each to cooperate with one stationary contact a, contact 65 is a make-and-break contact adapted to cooperate with stationary contacts a and b, and contact 66 is a break contact which normally engages a stationary contact a. All contacts in the sequencer are shown in the zero position of the sequencer. The electric system finally includes two relays, one holding relay 67 having two movable contacts 671 and 672 cooperating with the respective stationary contacts a and b, and a memory relay 68 having two movable contacts 681 and 682 ccoperating with the respective stationary contacts a and b, as well as a contactor 69 having supply contacts 691 and apparatus contacts 692. The electric system is connected to a 220 V. AC. mains at 70, but it may be more suitable to arrange in the lavatory a transformer which is connected to the mains and transforms the voltage to low voltage, for instance 27 v., and to connect the sanitary closet to said low voltage whereby less rigorous regulations need be observed with regard to the nature and arrangement of the electric components.

When the lid of the seat 11 is opened the contacts 60 and 61 break at their stationary contacts a and the contact 60 closes at its stationary contact b whereby the fan motor 22 is connected to the mains 70 via contact 60 and a break occurs in the circuit for the drive motor 40 of the rotary assembly 13 at the contact 61. The fan is thus kept running all the time the lid is open, i.e. always when the sanitary closet is in use, and during use the rotary assembly 13 cannot be rotated for shifting the positions of the waste receptacles. When the closet has been used and the lid is closed, the fan again stops running, and the operating cycle of the closet can now be started by depression of push button 58. This will energize the relays 67 and 68 via the push button, and the relays will adjust their movable contacts from the stationary contacts a to the stationary contacts b. The motor 59 of the sequencer 57 is then connected to the mains 70 via 671b and via the parallel current paths 672b-58 and 6811; so that the sequencer beings to operate simultaneously as the fan motor 22 is connected to the mains via push button 58 and also in parallel therewith via 672b and 681b, inasmuch as the contact 60 engages its stationary contact a. When the push button 58 is released the motor 59 still is energized via 67117 and 681b and the motor 22 is energized via 672b and 68112. The relay 67 receives holding current via 672b and 68111, and the memory relay 68 will receive holding current via 68% and rest contact 66a. When the sequencer 57 has started, a new holding circuit for the relay 67 is established and maintained via 63a and the holding circuit for the relay 68 is briefly broken at the contact 66a so that the relay 68 releases while the relay 67 remains activated. After about a minute from the start of the sequencer said sequencer closes the circuit to the motor 40 via 65a and 62a so that the motor 40 starts turning the rotary assembly 13, the contact 62 being immediately reset into engagement with contact b as soon as the rotary assembly has left its position of rest, and after that the motor 40 is energized via 62b and 61a. As a consequence, the sequencer can now restore the contact 65 to its middle position without the rotary assembly stopping, and when said assembly has arrived in its new position of rest it actuates the contact 62 which is thereby reset into engagement with its contact a and breaks the circuit to the motor 40. The contact 62 makes sure that the rotary assembly 13 has distinct positions of rest. During rotation of the assembly before it takes its new position of rest with the newly used waste receptacle in position directly beneath the afterburner 1-6, the sequencer resets its contact 64 into engagement with the stationary contact a so that the contactor 69 is energized via a normally closed thermostat contact 71 located in the afterburner. The contactor 69 connects the heating element 51 to heat it. Simultaneously as the heating element is con nected the contact 65 of the sequencer is reset into engagement with its stationary contact b so that the solenoid 47 will be conductive and the damper 46 is closed. Now the incineration of the waste substances in the receptacle beneath the after-burner 16 takes place in that first any paper present is bumt (a small hole in the damper allows primary air to flow through the pipe 26 to the receptacle 15B for said combustion), whereupon any liquid matter present in the receptacle is boiled away and the remaining solid constitutents are dry-distilled to the extent this is possible. After an operating time of 25 to 30 minutes from the start of the sequencer the contact 65 is reset into middle position, the solenoid 47 is deenergized and the damper 46 is opened and remains in open position for the remainder of the incineration time. Air is now admitted to a full extent through pipe 26 as primary air into the receptacle and as secondary air into the after-burner so that a complete incineration can take place. About 40 minutes after the start of the sequencer the contact 64 is caused to open whereby the heating element 51 is disconnected. The sequencer runs for a further 20 minutes with the fan in operation for cooling of the waste receptacle. After that the sequencer opens the circuit at the contact 63, the relay 67 is released and a new cycle can now be started by depression of push button 58.

However, it may of curse happen that the sanitary closet is utilized while an incinerating cycle is in progress. In such a case one need not wait to press the push button 58; this can be made while the incinerating cycle is in progress without disturbing it. When the push button 58 is pressed the memory relay 68 is thus engaged again via the normally closed contact 66 and then remains engaged to hold the relay 67 at the end of the incinerating cycle in progress so that a new cycle immediately starts. Only after that the relay 68 releases due to the short disconnection of the contact 66.

The invention is not ilimited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings but can be modified within the scope of the appended claims. Thus it is not necessary, though advantageous, to run part of the pipe 26 through a restricted portion of the passage for the hot exhaust gases from the incineration, but the pipe 26 can run directly to the waste receptacle 15B without any preheating of the supplied air. Furthermore, the pipe 26 need not be connected to the pressure chamber 23 but can have an entirely separate air intake to which air can be supplied by means of a fan or compressor. Moreover, the disk 18 can more or less have the form of a net, and also the other details of the sanitary closet described can be designed in many other dilferent ways within the scope of the appended claims. It should be observed especially that the sanitary closet need not necessarily be electrically operated but may be gas-fired, propane gas being supplied to the waste receptacle 15B through the pipe 26 together with the air and being caused to burn in the waste receptacle. In such a case there may be provided an igniting device connected to an electric accumulator or like means in order to ignite the gas, and suitable mechanical means can be substituted for the electric drive units and the electric system.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A sanitary closet including a toilet seat, at least one open-top receptacle for receiving body waste matter, an open-bottom dome adapted to serve as an after-burner, incinerating means disposed in said dome, means forming an inlet for supplying air to the interior of said dome, means forming an outlet for discharging exhaust gases from the interior of said dome, and means mounting said waste receptacle and said dome for relative movement to place the waste receptacle in a waste-receiving position beneath said toilet seat and in a waste-incinerating position beneath said dome.

2. A sanitary closet as claimed in claim 1 in which the air inlet is arranged as a pipe passing through the dome and opening adjacent the bottom opening of the dome.

3. A sanitary closet as claimed in claim 1 in which the exhaust gas outlet is arranged as a pipe connected to the top of the dome, and the air inlet pipe extends through at least a section of the outlet pipe.

4. A sanitary closet as claimed in claim 1, including a damper for controlling the air supply through the air inlet.

5. A sanitary closet as claimed in claim 1, including a suction fan, means connecting the exhaust gas outlet to said suction fan, a pressure chamber on the pressure side of said suction fan, and an exhaust gas outlet communicating with said pressure chamber.

6. A sanitary closet as claimed in claim 5 in which the air inlet is connected to the pressure chamber.

7. A sanitary closet as claimed in claim 1, including at least one perforated disk of ceramic material covering the downward opening of the dome.

8. A sanitary closet as claimed in claim 2 including at least one perforated dish of ceramic material covering the downward opening of the dome in which the air inlet pipe extends through the perforated disk.

9. A sanitary closet as claimed in claim 8 in which the air inlet pipe forms outlet openings on either side of the perforated disk.

10. A sanitary closet as claimed in claim 7, including means stationarily mounting said dome, at least two waste receptacles, and means movably mounting said waste receptacles for movement relative to said toilet seat and said dome between said waste-receiving position and said waste-incinerating position.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,293,141 2/1919 McGary 4l3l 2,995,097 8/1961 Kruckeberg et al. 4l31 XR 3,092,049 6/1963 Wood 4-l31 XR 10 3,319,588 5/1967 Duncan 4131 H. HAMPTON HUNTER, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

